Trump Is Turning a Buck on the Presidency and His People Are Bragging About It for Laughs
(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To The Last Post Of The Week From The Blog's Favourite Living Canadian)
On Friday morning, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who defeated the mighty John Bolton through superior ass-kissing, must have been feeling chuffed, because he took the occasion of a speech in Washington to confirm that the current president* is in stark violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause and, therefore, should be impeached and removed from office.
OK, I'm extrapolating, but this is what Pompeo actually said, via The Washington Post:
Pompeo was speaking to the Concerned Women for America, a conservative nonprofit group that invited him and Vice President Pence to address its 40th anniversary gala held at the Trump hotel that sits blocks from the White House. “I look around. This is such a beautiful hotel,” Pompeo said. “The guy who owns it must have been successful somewhere along the way.”
“That was for The Washington Post,” he added, gesturing to the media in the back of the room. The Post reported Thursday on the two powerful Trump officials’ attendance at an event that drives revenue to President Trump’s private business.
And, with expert timing, Pompeo made his revelation just as a lawsuit on this very question was brought back to life in an appeals court. From The New York Times:
In a two-to-one decision, a panel of judges for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found that a lower court had wrongly dismissed the lawsuit accusing Mr. Trump of violating the Constitution’s bans on accepting financial benefits from foreign or state governments. The appeals court judge sent the lawsuit back to the lower court, ordering it be allowed to proceed.
The decision comes nearly two years after the lower court judge dismissed the lawsuit. The case is one of three that have been ping-ponging back and forth between district and appeals courts as judges struggle with the novel legal questions raised by Mr. Trump’s decision not to divorce himself from his business empire while in office.
Although Mr. Trump promised never to mix his personal financial interests with official business, he has repeatedly touted his properties since becoming president. He suggested recently that he should host the next summit of the Group of 7 world leaders at his luxury golf resort in southern Florida, describing the property as a “great place.”
This always has been the most obvious evidence of a massive level of corruption at the heart of this presidency*. (That Pompeo was able to joke about it openly should give you some idea how vast it really is.) The only thing that El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago really knows about his job is how to line his pockets while he still has it. I'm not sure how "novel" these legal questions really are. The Constitution says quite plainly that you're not allowed to use the office to turn a buck. The president* swore to "faithfully execute" that very document. He's turning a buck on the presidency* and his people are out there bragging about it for laughs. The only thing novel about the situation is that he hasn't been thrown out on his ear yet.
Oh, and while we're all still yapping at Julian Castro for noting that Joe Biden had taken to speaking in alphabet soup, here's President* Emoluments himself on Thursday afternoon, talking about wind turbines.
The wind is very expensive because you put up this windmills—they are made in Germany and China. Think of the pollutants that go in the air when they are making these massive steel things. If it is anywhere near your house, your house goes way down in value. Try dropping a windmill somewhere close to your house. Try selling your house. They make noise, they kill all the birds. The energy is intermittent. You happen to be watching the democratic debate and the wind is not blowing, you are not going to see them. What happened to this debate? You happen to be watching the Democratic debate and the wind isn’t blowing. You’re not going to see the debate. ‘Charlie, what the hell happened to this debate?’ He says, ‘Darling, the wind isn’t blowing.’ The goddamned windmill stopped.”
And here he is on other critical environmental issues.
"We are going to be clean, but isn't it sort of naive—then they talk about plastic straws. What about the plate, what about the wrapper made out a much tougher plastic? We have not gotten to that. Just straws. Some day, you will explain that to me, Louis. I'm sure you are a big environmentalist. Can you explain the straw? Because they can't explain it."
And here he is with...well, who the fck knows what?
They are standing behind AOC. I call her Cortez. Because you don't have time to go through the whole name. I just call her Cortez. They don't like that, when you call her Cortez. It is too long. I call her AOC and the others AOC plus three. AOC plus three. That is the definition. I see what she is talking about, she is going through this deal that is so insane, but I don't want to talk about it. I hit Pocahontas too early. I thought she was gone. She has emerged on the ashes, and now it looks like she could beat Sleepy Joe. He has no idea what he is doing or saying. And President Xi of China, he is tough. He is a furious kind of a guy. Great guy, but he is dying to see—he wants Sleepy Joe. Can you imagine this? Those guys in a room? Here is Xi. Hi. Here is Sleepy Joe. Where am I, where am I? Just sign here. Like you guys have been doing the last 25 years.
Yeah, we're in great shape.
Weekly WWOZ Pick To Click: "Falls of Richmond" (Natalie Mae): Yeah, I still pretty much love New Orleans.
Weekly Visit To The Pathe Archives: Here, from 1964, the Dutch Parliament debates the "behaviour" of Princess Irene. The "behaviour" in question was the fact that the princess secretly had married a Catholic. Not only was hubbie an RC, but he was Spanish and a big-time supporter of Francisco Franco, and the Dutch were not far enough removed from World War II to think kindly of someone who had palled around with Adolf Hitler's running buddy. (Also, there's still some hard feelings for Spain stemming from the Eighty Years War, which ended in 1648. Europe, boy, I dunno.) A huge dispute roiled up, but Irene married the rightwing Spaniard anyway. Gradually, though, their politics drifted leftward and they drifted apart. Irene became a disarmament activist and an environmental activist as well. She published a book in which she claimed to have communicated with trees and with dolphins. Easier than marrying a Catholic, I'm thinking. History is so cool.
Two weeks ago, in the All Ireland GAA football final, Kerry and Dublin played one of the best games of any kind that I've ever seen. It ended in a tie after extra time and the replay is Saturday. Dublin is playing for its fifth straight All Ireland, a feat no side ever has accomplished. On the other hand, Kerry, also perennial power, has been on the brink of doing so several times. My family hails from the Greater Listowel Metropolitan Area so my heart is ever with the green-and-gold. Up the Kingdom! #Ciarrai Abu.
In other sports news, good for California for cutting the Gordian knot of compensation for college athletes, while simultaneously cutting the legs out from under the NCAA. From NBC News:
The bill would allow athletes at California schools to hire agents and be paid for the use of their name, image or likeness. It would stop universities and the NCAA from banning athletes that take the money. The Senate passed the bill 39-0 on Wednesday, a few days after it got an endorsement from NBA superstar LeBron James. It now goes to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has not said whether he'll sign it.
This is so damn obvious that it's no wonder the NCAA is so rabidly opposed to it. Here's Tim Tebow being really dumb about it. Choice, Tim. I know it's a tough concept for the Bible-banging contingent to grasp, but most of us are in favor of it.
Is it a good day for dinosaur news, Science Daily? It's always a good day for dinosaur news!
Tyrannosaurus rex, one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs on the planet, had an air conditioner in its head, suggest scientists from the University of Missouri, Ohio University and University of Florida, while challenging over a century of previous beliefs.
In the past, scientists believed two large holes in the roof of a T. rex's skull -- called the dorsotemporal fenestra -- were filled with muscles that assist with jaw movements. But that assertion puzzled Casey Holliday, a professor of anatomy in the MU School of Medicine and lead researcher on the study...
Using thermal imaging -- devices that translate heat into visible light -- researchers examined alligators at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park in Florida. They believe their evidence offers a new theory and insight into the anatomy of a T. rex's head.
"An alligator's body heat depends on its environment," said Kent Vliet, coordinator of laboratories at the University of Florida's Department of Biology. "Therefore, we noticed when it was cooler and the alligators are trying to warm up, our thermal imaging showed big hot spots in these holes in the roof of their skull, indicating a rise in temperature. Yet, later in the day when it's warmer, the holes appear dark, like they were turned off to keep cool. This is consistent with prior evidence that alligators have a cross-current circulatory system -- or an internal thermostat, so to speak."
I've spent two days in Houston and I'm now off to South Carolina. How come I don't have an air conditioner in my head? Evolution sucks.
Top Commenter Jeff Moore won The Committee's heart with his own personal account of his interaction with the NCAA idiots. It's a bit long to quote here, but the gist is bad enough.
In a previous life as an adjunct in a northeast Indiana community college (Theatre Dept), I was approached to shoot a local car repair commercial by a local station. They needed another actor, could I find one? I tapped a young man in one of my classes, hard worker, good looking, paid gig. He was like "Cool". We did the shoot, we got paid. A month later, I'm contacted by the Athletic Dept compliance officer: broke NCAA rules-- he's a soccer player on partial scholarship, his scholarship's been vacated, he's suspended from the team pending NCAA review. He must forfeit all pay he received to a charity, and we need a receipt from the charity, to be reinstated.
Here are 89.99 Beckhams. Sic them all on the NCAA. Death by basset. No mercy.
So, off to the home office of American sedition for a couple days, including an old-fashioned political hooley that dates back to Wade Hampton, one of the worst racist traitors in American history. Be well and play nice, ya bastids. Stay above the snake-line, and make sure the Victrola is still in good order.
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